Thursday, 21st March, 2019

Shooting at N Korean embassy in Tokyo : 2 men arrested

R A Sujon : Police said they arrested two Japanese men believed to be right-wing activists for shooting early Friday at North Korea’s de facto embassy in Tokyo.

The men fired several shots at the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, a pro-North Korean group representing ethnic Koreans in Japan, Tokyo metropolitan police said.

The men, Satoshi Katsurada, 56, and Yoshinori Kawamura, 46, drove by in a vehicle and one of them fired several shots, police said. The gate was damaged but nobody was injured.

The motive was not known. Japanese media reports said the two men have staged protests criticizing the pro-North Korean group, also known as Chongryon.

Patrolling police rushed to the closely monitored building and arrested the two on the spot, confiscating a gun, police said. The two men face allegations of damaging a building and could also face allegations of violating gun control laws.

Tokyo has no diplomatic ties with North Korea. Tens of thousands of pro-North ethnic Koreans live in Japan and still have relatives in North Korea.